Reviews

I’m going to start by saying that this book will definitely stay with me for a while because the characters and the ending were amazing but the reason I didn’t rate it 5 ⭐️ was because I was not super into the story until I was 50% into the book. And this book is THICK (800 pages).

I love intricate world building, especially when I can tell the author spends a lot of time building the backgrounds of their characters and weaves their complex stories into their detailed worlds. However, I almost felt like it was world building vomit in the beginning. A lot of information is dumped on you at the start and it can feel a little overwhelming. You don’t need to remember all of it to understand and appreciate the story though.

The characters are awesome- even the side characters. As a fan of Sarah’s work, I have learned that she does an amazing job of creating complex, relatable, flawed, and bad a** characters with great development and growth. I can’t wait to see what these characters go through and do in the next book.

The mystery aspect to the story was a lot of fun and interesting. I did not expect the outcome and was really surprised. The chemistry and tension (slow burn) between the two main characters was really well done.

Overall, I highly recommend this book if you like:

faye373's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved it, cried multiple times, aaaaaaaaaa need second book but I'm only getting it on Friday

jessamoocow's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Slow start but when I got into it enjoyable. World seemed to be more complex than other Maas books to understand.
If you asked me in the first 40% if I wanted to continue you the series, the answer would have been no. But the build up eventually paid off.

mliz_pim's review against another edition

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4.0

Rating 4/5

This was actually a re read for me so I could read the second book of the series, and I typically don't include re reads in my read books for the year, but I remembered like 5% of the content in this book so honestly it felt like a new read and now I am here lol!

House of Earth and Blood feels like a standard first book in a Sarah J Maas series so if you're familiar with her other works you'll know how this goes, for those who haven't read her work before it's a slow start, but if you can power through to the half way point (which I know for this book is far away) it's so worth it, they way the stories flesh out is truly remarkable and as someone who has been a fan of her writing since I was in my teens and am now in my mid twenties it's been so cool to watch her writing style grow.

I enjoyed Bryce's story throughly and am finally ready (and very excited) to start the next part of her story.

tweidgenand's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kate_clark22's review against another edition

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5.0

I rate this book 4.5 stars. The intense world building at the start made it so tricky to get into right away. I’ve never had an issue with building SJM’s worlds before. But this one took a while for me to get a clear image in my head. Bryce is an amazing MC and I love her with all my heart. The twists and turns throughout really kept me at the edge of my seat. I can’t wait to see what other worlds intertwine. Some parts were incredibly cheesy and frustrating however but I’ll let it pass.

cocoloris's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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